Frankenmuth, Michigan – Little Bavaria

Frankenmuth is truly a little Bavaria in central Michigan! Upon arrival, you will see that the town is intertwined with their ancestry! You can take a stroll, do some shopping, even take a carriage ride. The name is comprised of the early settler’s former home, the Franconia region of Germany and muth, the German word for courage. The name itself means “The Courage of the Franconians” but

it’s most popular nickname is “Muth” or “Little Bavaria.” The settlers arrived in 1845, became a village in 1904 and a city in 1959. There are neighboring German towns of Frankenlust, Frankentrost, and Frankenhilf, as this area’s original purpose was a mission post for the spreading of Christianity to the Chippewa tribe.

Frankenmuth prides itself on their beautiful main street with flowers in bloom or ice sculptures and lights twinkling year-round. The 2.8 square mile town is comprised of stylized timber-framed buildings with the distinctive “X” or

square patterns on the exterior of the buildings, windows and doors. The Cass River winds through the town to encourage the Bavarian feel. During the winter months, the horticulturalists work on bringing new varieties and colors to the city. They grow hundreds of flats of flowers, 400 hanging baskets, and over 2,000 individual pots! These are all planted in May by their Clean Team. Most celebrations, events and community activities occur in Heritage Park, Frankenmuth’s most well-known park with picnic pavilions, ball diamonds, playgrounds, sand volleyball courts, basketball court, a riverwalk pathway along the Cass River and festival facilities.

All of their hard work and beautiful sites do not go to waste! Frankenmuth

depends on tourism for their economy and welcomes over 3 million tourist each year. Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland calls Frankenmuth home, as well as the Frankenmuth Brewery, Zehnder’s and many other fun specialty shops.

The town also hosts many festivals each year!

World Expo of Beer – A community fundraiser with a revolving beneficiary.

The Dog Bowl and Great Lakes Regional Hot Air Balloon Championships– Olympic-style dog events illustrating different breeds of

dogs competing. The Dock Dog competition is an event where dogs compete for distance, height and speed in retrieval from the water. The Disc Dog competition tracks the speed and distance of dogs catching discs. The Wiener dog races have over 200 dogs racing in the at River Place. There are also 40 hot air balloons competing from the Great Lakes Region states compete to perform tasks in the “flight” and drop bean bags on targets from the air. You will

Summer Music Fest – A week long polka festival? Yes, please! This event brings over 25,000 people to the little town each year.

Oktoberfest- The first Oktoberfest was held in Frankenmuth in 1990 to celebrate their German culture and heritage and was the first Oktoberfest outside of Munich to be sanctioned by the City of Munich. Schnitzel, anyone?

Frankenmuth SnowFest- One of the top snow sculpture events in North America is held in Frankenmuth and includes the United States Collegiate National Ice Carving Championships.

There is so much more to explore in Frankenmuth! You can visit the Visitor’s Center Website or if you are all ready to go, join us for a quick trip to Frankenmuth with accommodations (and $60 FREE gaming money) at Soaring Eagle Casino.

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